Postponing the court session of “releasing Jerusalemites’ Martyrs’ bodies” for two weeks
A court session was held on Monday at the Israeli Supreme Court to discuss the appeal submitted by the families of Jerusalemite Martyrs to request the release of their sons in order to bury them.
After the judges’ commission listened to the Martyrs’ families’ lawyers, Mohammad Mahmoud from Al-Dameer organizations and Suhad Bshara from Adala (Justice) Organization, and listened to the public prosecution’s claims, they decided to hold another session to discuss the appeal and requested the prosecution to submit their detailed response regarding the security reasons for not releasing the bodies of Jerusalemite Martyrs.
Lawyer Mohammad Mahmoud explained that the judges decided to hold another session in two weeks and requested the prosecution to submit their detailed explanation about the security reasons that prevented them from releasing the bodies despite being detained for a long time now.
The lawyer added that the judges’ commission requested the police to respond to his claims that he presented during the session and explain the reasons for still detaining the bodies; note that some Martyrs’ bodies have been detained for six months while most Palestinian Martyrs’ bodies that were from the West Bank have been released unconditionally. The lawyer added that the Israeli intelligence impose restrictions and conditions on the Martyrs’ families regarding the number of people participating in the funeral which take place at night and also force them to deposit money to ensure commitment to their conditions. Even with the families’ commitment and approval to the rules, the Israeli authorities are still delaying the release of Martyrs’ bodies despite the presence of an order by the Israeli police that was issued at the end of last year to release the bodies. Lawyer Mahmoud confirmed that the continuous delay by the intelligence is unjustified.
The lawyer also added that the judges gave the public prosecution and Israeli police a chance to release the bodies in the next two week; i.e. before the next hearing session.
During the session, lawyer Mahmoud explained that the police and intelligence decided to release the bodies of Mohammad Abed Nimer, Abdel Muhsen Hassouneh and Hasan Manasra and the families had agreed the conditions but the bodies have not been released until this date.
Lawyer Mahmoud confirmed that the judges’ decision was positive by not rejecting the appeal and not accepting the prosecution’s claims that detaining the bodies is a political decision that was consulted with the military and security level.
Lawyer Bshara talked about the illegality of detaining the Martyrs’ bodies in the occupation freezers.
The occupation authorities are still detaining the bodies of 12 Jerusalemite Martyrs, they are:
- Thaer Abdel Salam Abu Ghazaleh (19)
- Hasan Khaled Manasra (15)
- Baha’ Mohammad Alayan (22)
- Ala’ Daoud Abu Jamal (32)
- Mutaz Ahmad Aweisat (16)
- Mohammad Abed Nimer (37)
- Abdel Muhsen Hassouneh (21)
- Mohammad Abu Khalaf (20)
- Fadwa Abu Ter (51)
- Fouad Abu Rajab (21)
- Mohammad Kaloti (21)
- Abdel Malek Abu Khroub (19)
